The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-12-28
Self-Murder by Explosions.

os A-NpAo'Ao"T'
The suicide of the Anarchist Lingg,
by means of detonator exploded in his
mouth, is not the first self-murder of its
kind. Thus. in 1876, native of Alsace
put dynamite cartridge into his mouth
and fired it, with the result of blowing
his head and the upper part of his body
to pieces. In June the same year, at
Wickham Market, in Suffolk, woman
named Solomon, the wife Of an oil mer-
chant, purchased a quantity of gunpower,
and having made circle Of it and placed
herself in the midst she fired the powder.
The experiment was unsuccessful; only
slight injuries were inflicted on the wo-
man. Thercupon she went to an out
house, and putting a quantity of gun
powder into a pal, placed herself over
the bucket and applied a match. On
this occasion her injuries were more
severe. but for her purpose the explosion
was again failure, and so she hacked at
her throat with knife. She was found
in most lamentablc condition, and died
next day.
At Nitshill, in Scotland, in October of
the same year, a miner named Duncan
obtained some dynamite and blasting
fuse and went into the street, where he
placed the dynamite on the ground,
leaned over it and lighted the fuse. At
this moment some boys, attracted by his
unusual attitude, came toward him.
"keep back" shouted Duncan, "for the
love of God, or you will be blown into
eternity" The boys stood aloof; in
few moments there was loud explosion
and Duncan was blown to atoms. In
September, 1881, miner at Runcorn
filled his mouth with gunpowder, ignited
it with match and succeeded in blow
ing the top of his head off. An almost
identical instance occurred in 1888 at
Canterbury, when waiter named Sim
mons destroyed himself 10y exploding
quantity of gunpowder in his mouth.
A more elaborate appli"ation of ex-
plosives to the purposes of suicide and
murder combined was recorded the same
year. At Dunedin, New Zealand, a
clerk named Stephenson, who had been
separated from his wife for some time on
account of drunkenness, met her in the
street, and exploded a dynamite cartridge
c.ose to her head, his own head being
placed at the same moment very near to
hers: Both were almost completely
blown off.
In the year 1884 three suicides of this
sort were recorded. One was committed
in June, at Munich, by soldier of the
Bavarian Field Artillery, who had mis-
conducted himself and wished to avoid
punishment. lie loaded cannon with
some gunpowdcr and pieces of iron, and,
placing himself in front of it, fred it.
Another case occurred in the Bois de
Boulogne the same month, when man
blew himself to pieces by exploding an
iron box capable of containing about ten
pounds of gunpowder. But the most
remarkable case occurred on the West
Coast of Africa. The King of Falaha
being attacked by Mohammedan force,
and finding resistance impossible, he as
scmblcd his family and principal officers,
and after addressing them and intimating
his determination never to accept Mo-
hammcdanism, and inviting those who
did not agree with him to 60 away, he
applied match to q large quantity of
gunpowder collected for the purpose, and
blew the palace and all who were in it to
pieces. st. James's Gazette.